Obama: Don’t Boo, Vote – Sequel Could Be Worse, Warns on Trump
In an attempt to unite his party against Donald Trump, Barack Obama and Michelle Obama have issued a warning, saying the sequel is "usually worse" than the original film.
Speaking on the second night of the DNC, Mr. Obama stated that "chaos" and "bluster" for another four years are not what the nation needs.
"We have seen that movie before - and we all know that the sequel is usually worse," he stated.
"It has been a constant stream of gripes and grievances that's actually been getting worse now that he's afraid of losing to Kamala," he added.
"There's the childish nicknames, the crazy conspiracy theories, this weird obsession with crowd sizes… it just goes on and on and on."
Criticising Mr Trump's record while he was in office, the crowd booed loudly, to which Mr Obama said in an unscripted moment: "Do not boo - vote."
"We have a chance to elect someone who has spent her entire life trying to give people the same chances America gave her," he had told the crowd, with Ms Harris confirmed as the party's pick for November's election.
In tribute to outgoing President Joe Biden, who beat Mr Trump in the last election, he said history will remember him for having "defended democracy at a moment of great danger".
Listing the things he said the next president needed to do in order to ensure American people know that democracy can deliver, and invoking the famous slogan of his own presidential 2008 Campaign, he said: "Kamala will be that president. Yes she can."
'Hope is making a comeback'
Michelle Obama, the president-elect of the party, gave the introduction of her husband.
As the convention was greeted with a prolonged and thunderous applause, Mrs. Obama declared, "America, hope is making a comeback."
She called Ms. Harris among the "most qualified" candidates to run for the position in history.
"Who is going to tell him the job he is currently seeking might just be one of those black jobs?" she asked, directing her criticism at Mr. Trump.
The unsupported assertion made by Mr. Trump earlier this summer that immigrants are stealing "black jobs" was the subject of her reference.
While Ms Harris was not at the convention to respond to the Obamas' backing, she spoke at a campaign rally in Milwaukee, where she said the election will be a "tight race until the very end".
"We have some hard work ahead of us, but we like hard work - hard work is good work," she said.
Meanwhile, Mr Trump repeated unsupported claims Ms Harris took a permissive approach to law enforcement at a campaign stop in Howell, Michigan.
"You can't walk across the street to get a loaf of bread," he said. "You get shot, you get mugged, you get raped."
He spoke one month after white supremacists rallied in the small town, where about a dozen chanted "Heil Hitler" and carried "White Lives Matter" signs.
Former Republicans who became disillusioned with Mr Trump's leadership addressed the Democratic convention, including former White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham.
She became a member of Mr Trump's family, she said, and wasn't just a supporter but a "true believer".
Behind closed doors, however, she says he mocks his supporters - calling them "basement dwellers".
She recalled a hospital visit where he "got mad that the cameras were not watching him".
"He has no empathy, no morals and no fidelity to the truth," she added. "He used to tell me 'it doesn't matter what you say Stephanie, say it enough and people will believe you'."
One of the opinions expressed by John F. Kennedy's grandson was that Ms. Harris "tells the truth" and that she possesses the same "energy, vision, and optimism for the future" as his grandfather.
A number of celebrities attended as well. Actress Eva Longoria represented Texas, while rapper Lil Jon opened the proceedings with a performance of Turn Down for What.
A line of police was attacked by dozens of pro-Palestinian demonstrators outside the Israeli consulate in Chicago, following the convention.
Subsequent to the main assembly breaking up into smaller factions, additional altercations with law enforcement resulted in over twelve people being taken into custody.